Category Archives: six word memoirs

Back when we used to blog semi-regularly, when we disappeared for a while, we’d usually apologize by starting our next post with “OH HAHA HEY REMEMBER US?” But at this point it’s been nearly a year, so fuck that. Sorry we’re not sorry. We’ve been off doing, like, really important things. (No, that’s not true. But we both did start Tumblr bloggies, because, frankly, they’re easier to keep up with because all you have to do is reblog other people’s photos and nice quotes and YouTube videos and you’re under no obligation to even write six words about them. We never formally admitted that here because then it would be like Six Words was over, and I don’t ever want it to be over. WE CAN’T QUIT YOU, SIX WORDS. Now that I’ve mentioned it, though: Kathleeny can be found at everythingisavesselforgoatcheese.tumblr.com and I’m at playingthedrumswithamaraca.tumblr.com. Only one of us has a Tumblr with a six-word title, and it’s me, so I win.)

I’ve been thinking about this here neglected bloggy lately for two reasons:

On Thanksgiving, I randomly read a bunch of my old Thanksgiving posts, and then I felt all emo and missed it here.

Kathleen and I are MAJOR runners now, and when naming our team (read: just the two of us) for an upcoming race, she offered “Six Words to Run the World” as an option, and then I felt all emo and missed it here.

Now that the obligatory re-introduction part is over, let me tell you about how Kathleen and I run now. First, you should probably know that in college, Kathleen and I did a lot of powerwalking (as in we powerwalked like six times total over the course of four years) because we really hated running. We called it our P-Dubs club, and talked about making t-shirts with hilarious sayings like “Running Is for Cowards” and “Runners Find the Dead Bodies.”

Fast forward a few years, and we started running because Kathleen found a Women in Politics 5K and obviously we had to participate. An important thing happened during this run. While neither of us experienced some bullshit like a runner’s high, the race organizer people (or one of the organizers’ boyfriends who had a digital camera, because this run took place on a college campus and wasn’t very legitimate) took an epic photograph of Kathleen and me, wearing matching t-shirts and holding hands as we triumphantly crossed the finish line. (Keep in mind, this was a 5K. Kathleen’s boyfriend ran more than a 5K, uphill, to watch us run ours.)

In theory, this photo was really fucking adorable. In practice, Kathleen looks adorable and I look like a man. Two people who knew it was me said “Holy shit, you look like a dude” upon seeing the photo, and one person who saw the photo and didn’t know the back story thought it was an unattractive male acquaintance we had just been discussing. Naturally, that shit had to get FatBoothed. In all her pixelated glory, here she blows:

If a FatBoothed photo of the ugliest photo ever taken of you doesn’t keep you running, nothing will.

I know what you’re thinking, and no, you cannot have my number, and no, this is not about to become a running blog. I mostly just wanted to show you this photo and say hello. I’ve missed you.

I hope you thought my post title was as clever as I did. Anyway, this story broke a few days ago, but I’ve been DYING to share it with you. So meet Kimberley Vlaminck.

Yes, those are star tattoos on her face. Fifty-six, to be exact. According to the 18-year-old Belgian though, she only asked for three but the tattoo artist didn’t understand her. She then says she “fell asleep” and woke up like that. Well, I don’t have any tattoos, but from what I’ve heard they hurt. A lot. I can’t really see someone falling asleep while a needle was poking ink into the skin on their face. Call me crazy. The tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, says that she did indeed ask for that and that she was awake the entire time. Want to see what Mr. Toumaniantz looks like? I thought so:

Rawr? Ha. Wowie. I mean, really, she should not be THAT surprised if she is telling the truth (but I doubt it). Despite an eye witness saying that Kimberley did in fact ask for 56 stars, Rouslan is being a nice guy and offering to pay for half of the removal, which would cost roughly$14,000. The cost of the original tattoo? About $90. Learning from other people’s mistakes? Priceless.

So there is your SWTCTW life lesson of the day. Whose side are you on?

So, we just drank a bottle of champagne, ate three pounds of food (some of it vegetables, I swear!), and spent an hour trying to create some sort of “Best of SWTCTW” list. The problem is, all of our posts are so amazing, and we are so witty and entertaining and wonderful, that it’s hard to pick just a few select posts. Slash we drank a bottle of champagne and it’s just too hard to deal with stuff like that.

The point of all this is that Six Words To Change The World turned one today!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWTCTW! We were very excited when we realized this today, and you should be too. If you’ve been with us for the whole year (Dave, Susannah, Carlos, Mike, Abbey, Kelsey, Maddy, etc., we’re looking at you), thank you from the bottom of our bloggy hearts. (Kathleen: “I was just about to say, ‘Please write “bloggy hearts.” I hate you so much.'”) But seriously, thank you, everyone, for reading. Stick with us, and hopefully we can celebrate our second anniversary together next year. Until then, enjoy a little champagne, or maybe some cake, or maybe just this video (we’re still laughing, a LOT, a year later):